Rail-clamp.



R. P. GREENLEAF.

RAIL CLAMP.

APPLlcAnoN man SEPT. 3. 1914.

PatentedApr. l?, 1917.

STATE@ @lhllldlltflhlc armarios, or

CLEVELAND, GI-IIO.

RAIL-CLAMP.

Applcaton led September 3, 1914.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, Renner l). GREENLEAF, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Cleveland, in the county of Cuyahoga and State ofQhic, have and useful Improvement in Rail-Clamps, oit which thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description.

rlhis inef'ention relates to a rail clamp adapted especially to serve asan anchor for certain tvpes of machines, such as loading machines whichare required to be held stationary on a track while in operation, andare adapted to be moved along the track only when the machine istransferred from one working point to another or to advance a machine astho work progresses.l

The obj` t of the invention is to provide a cla ip which is simple inconstruction and can be easilj7 clamped to a rail or released, andwhenclamped to the rail will edectively anchor or hold the machine againstmovement. f

My invention will be briey summarized as consisting in certain noveldetails ot construction and combinations and arrangements of parts whichwill be described in the specication and set forth in the appendedclaims.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is a side view of the rail clamp showing bydotted lines a wheel of the machine or vehicle which is to be anchoredor held from movement in one direction by the clamp; Fig. 2 is an endview of the same with the rail in section; and Fig. 3 is a top plan viewwith parts broken away and with the operating lever of the clamp shiftedat right angles to the position shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Referring now to the parts by reference characters, 10 represents aU-shaped clamp composed of two parts 102L and 10b which have upperinturned edges 10c bearing against each other, and relatively shortlower inturned edges 10d between which there is an open space slightlyless than the width of the ball of the'rail. rlhe sides of the twomembers of the clamp constitute jaws which are adapted to engage thesides of the ball of the rail just above the lower inturned edges 10d.

The upper corners of the clamping member 10 are preferably beveled, asshown at adapted to be enof the machine to be 10", these portions beinggaged by the wheel 11a Specicaton of Letters Patent.

invented a certain newV Patented Apiu il?, 1217. Serial No, 169,604.

anchored or held against movement. lt may be here stated that two otthese clamps or anchors will be utilized to hold the machine againstmovement in either direction, one being clamped to the rail in front ofone oi the liront wheels, and the other being clamped to the rail in therear of one of the rear wheels. i

For the purpose of clamping the jaws to the rails or for releasing thesame, l utilize a clamping bolt 12 which. extends transversely andloosely through the sides of the two members 10a and 10b at thetransverse center plane oil the latter. t one end ot this bolt is anadjustable nut 12, and at its opposite end is a Vflat head 12". rlheclamping and releasing means includes also a lever 13 having abiturcated lower or inner end 13EL pivotally connected by a pin 14- tothe head 12b of the bolt. rlhe biturcated end 13a of the lever isprovided with a cam lug or nose 13b, which, when the lever is swung to aposition at right angles to the bolt 1.2, or in parallelism with thesides ot the clamp, causes the jaws or sides of the clamping members togrip the rail, and when the lever is swung to a position at right anglesto the sides releases the aws from the rails.

Extending through the sides of the clamping members, near the side edgesof the same, and at a distance from the inturned edges 10d equalsubstantially to the thickness of the ball of the rail, are two pinswhich are fixed in one of the sides and extend loosely through theother. rllhese pins normally rest on the top of the rail, as shown inFigs. 1 and 2.

To apply the clamp to the rail the nut 12a will be loosened sufficientlyto permit the two members 10a and l0b of the clamp to be moved apart orspread a suii'icient distance to allow the clamp to be placed over theball of the raihhthat is, with the rail between the clamping jaws, andwith the pins 15 resting on the top of the rail. lli the nut is nowmoved inwardly to its normal position, the sides of the clamping memberwill still loosely engage the rail and the clamping action will not yetbe had`y thus admitting of the clamp being slid along the rail to orfrom clamping position against the wheel. To now tightly clamp thedevice to the rail, the lever 13 will be swung to a position parallel tothe sides of the clamp, causj to draw the jaws 111g the cam or nose 13btightly against the rail with enormous clamping pressure. It will beobserved that the lever 13 may be swung either to vertical position, asshown in Figs. l and 2, or to horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 3without effecting the clamping engagement between the aws and the rail.This is oit' importance under certain conditions or with certain typesof machine, for the character of the work or of the machine may notadmit ot the lever extending upwardly, in which case it can be swunghorizontally and vice versa.

When the machine is to be advanced a short distance along the track, thelever will be swung to a position at right angles to the sides of theclamp, after which the clamp can be slid over the track the requireddistance, and after the machine has been properly positioned the clampwill be brought up against the wheel, and vwill thence be clamped to therail by swinging the lever, as previously explained. lf the machine isto be shifted a considerable distance along the track, the clamp isremoved from the rail by iirst swinging the lever to releasing position,and then by loosening the nut l2 until the slot between the edges of theclamping jaws is wider than the thickness of the ball of the rail.

rlhis device is simple in construction, is easily applied to the railand easily operated, and the clamping pressure is suiiiciently greatthat the machine, in connection with which the clamps are utilized, willbe held from movement regardless of the pulling or pushing stresseswhich tend to shift the machine along the track.

Having described my invention, I claim:

l. A rail clamp comprising a U-shaped member having clamping jaws andcom- Vposed of two flat plates having at their upper edges inturnedflanges which engage each other and which are spaced from the rail whenthe jaws are clamped thereto, a bolt passing loosely through thetransverse center plane of said jaws, an adjustablenut on one end ofsaid bolt, a clamping lever connected to the outer end of the bolt, saidlever having a clamping cam for drawing the jaws toward each other toproduce a clamping action on the rail when the lever is swung to acertain position.

2. A. rail clamp comprising a U-shaped member composed of two partsconstituting jaws adapted to clamp opposite sides of a rail, a clampingdevice extending through the same, a lever pivoted to the end of saiddevice and adapted to be swung about its pivotal axis, said lever havingmeans for drawing the two parts toward each other to produce clampingaction on the rail, and devices extending between said parts and locatedon opposite sides of said clamping device so as to rest upon the railbeing clamped. c

3. A rail clamp comprising two aws having a pair of pins extending fromone meniber to the other and adapted to rest on the rail, a clampingbolt extending loosely through the sides of said jaws between said pins,an adjustable nut at one end of said bolt, a clamping lever pivoted tothe opposite end of the bolt, said lever adapted to be swung to and froma position of parallelism with the jaws, and said lever having a camshaped nose adapted to engage one of the jaws to draw said jaws togetherand produce a clamping action.

ln testimony whereof, I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

ROBERT P.V GREENLEAF.

lVitnesses L. I. PORTER, A. F. Kwis.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of atents, Washington, D. C.

